A Touch of the Lips
by Lone Wulffe
Summary: Five times C.C. kisses Lelouch, and the first time he kisses her instead. Lelouch/C.C., as if it wasn't already obvious.


DISCLAIMER: Don't own Code Geass. If I did, at the very least there wouldn't be that stupid fiasco over the ending because I would've made it damn clear it's up to personal interpretation. And besides we all know Lelouch lived, duh. (is shot)

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><p>She has experienced many things in her unending life, but this is an unexpected first. C.C. chalks it up to Marianne being an unusually irritating contractor who's destroyed almost all her expectations - particularly by having a child.<p>

The immortal stares at the warm bundle the empress had placed in her arms with a smirk before stepping out of the room and finds herself unusually at a loss for words. The baby - Lelouch, was it? Royals and their naming sense - continues to sleep, oblivious of the world and uncorrupted by its influences (not yet, not yet) while she cannot remember the last time, if ever, the same applied to her.

"This sentimentality is your fault," the Code-bearer mutters resentfully but quietly, a statement meant only for her ears alone - whether it is directed at mother or son she herself is unsure. The drawing room's only other occupant, however, hears her regardless, and opens his eyes to regard the unfamiliar voice yet does not cry out like most infants, much to her mild surprise. Lazy gold gazes into rich amethyst, and C.C. thinks for a moment that there is far too much intelligence in those orbs for such an age. He gurgles and reaches out a tiny hand to grab a lock of her hair but does not tug it, and for some unfathomable reason she lets him.

Something compels her forward, a feeling that stirs momentarily in the forgotten depths of her heart, and she brushes her lips against his forehead in the privacy of the locked room. "May you have a happy life," she murmurs to him for no other reason than because she feels like it - a moment of tenderness that, beyond her wildest expectations, is the first secret they will share for years to come.

(When Marianne lies dead and her children are thrown to the wolves, C.C. remembers forlornly that witches only bring ill tidings.)

-xXx-

Japan is a far cry from the cloying atmosphere of Britannia, but they are safe here and she herself is hidden here and for now that will have to be enough.

As the days pass C.C. comes to decide that perhaps this outcome is not unpleasant, for though life is harsh the boy smiles and his sister laughs and they have a friend in this alien world. She faintly remembers these lands from ages ago, but the memories are smoke and ashes and they really don't matter anymore. Watching the children helps her forget - just for a little while - about her burden and the contract and The Plan, and sometimes she needs a reprieve even from her potential freedom.

It is on a sunny day like any other that she finds them asleep in the forest, dreaming their summer away under the shade of a large tree. She treads carefully so as not to wake them, kneels before his dozing form and knows that this peace will not last as long as it should. Already she can feel the winds of change building into a storm that will tear this fragile tranquility apart and all things considered Lelouch and his sister will be all the worse for it, his fate in particular like a noose around his neck waiting to be pulled taut and break him beyond redemption. "Be safe," is all she says as she plants a kiss on his raven hair, because to ask for less is not enough but to ask for more is to invite disaster. C.C. tells herself it is because he is Marianne's son, because he is the boy she has known before he was even aware of himself (they are both lies, but ignorance is bliss and attachment a dangerous game).

Her predictions come true all too soon: war comes, and with it her captors as well. In the midst of all the tests and experiments she wonders of the fates of the two siblings.

(The first taste of freedom in years comes with the sight of amethyst framed in ebony, and C.C. thinks the gods must be laughing at her, for he has stayed safe all these years only so she can come along and ruin him herself.)

-xXx-

There are one too many players at the board, and everything sets off a chain of events that neither of them could have predicted.

At the very least, she could never have anticipated him peering into the depths of her mind, no thanks to V.V.'s meddling. It is both unsettling and cathartic, but his words, spoken in this void for two, are what shake her to the very core. "If you are a witch, then I will become a warlock." There is no deceit in his voice, and it is not Zero who tells her this but Lelouch, the boy who both wages war and turns his back to it for the sake of those he loves. She wonder if he realizes what he is promising her, this boy whose heart is as great as it is dark, but that in itself is dangerous territory. It doesn't help matters that of all the things he could do first upon exiting their mental cage he chooses to ask if she is alright.

Jeremiah attacks, disrupting any further conversation, and C.C. suppresses a sardonic smile at how much her existence has come to resemble a badly-written television drama, what with the timely interruption following a secret's unveiling. It doesn't make their situation any less dire, however, and as she makes her decision the only thing that surprises her more than his worry and her unexplainable nervousness is the fact that she finds herself admitting it to him. "Win, Lelouch," she turns to tell him in that sliver of borrowed time, "over your own past... and over the outcome of your actions." And then she kisses him - in gratitude or for good luck she can't tell - but the moment is over before it can truly sink in and they must part ways.

"C.C., don't die," he tells her; a futile demand, but it warms her thawing heart nonetheless. She smirks in response, reminds him who he is talking to and he acknowledges that she has a point, but the sentiment hangs in the air all the same even as she heads off to go against his request - because she must, and because it's not like death is the end for her anyway.

(It costs her dearly, for the outcome is the worst possible scenario and she realizes belatedly that regardless of the chosen road she was doomed to lose him that day.)

-xXx-

It takes her one year - she should be surprised she's keeping track, but she really isn't - to find him, and predictably he is bait to lure her into their clutches.

She could care less: being nothing more than lowly pawns, they would have no knowledge of her Code or his Geass, and that alone will be her advantage. All she needs is to get to him - and she does, finding him in such a state that the entire scenario is déjà vu mixed with irony. She tells him that they've come for him, that his enemy is his own country, but more than that she reminds him of their contract, that they are accomplices and she is the only one who knows his true self. (Conversely, he is the only one who knows her, and she misses that.) C.C. extends a hand to him, and something compels him to step forward and reach out in return.

A bullet through her heart ruins the moment - typical television drama cliche, a voice in the back of her mind snarkily comments - but Lelouch catches her as she falls, being the gentleman that he is. Drifting between the dying and not-dying as her Code mends the fatal wound, she only half-listens to the idiot who effectively ruined the outfit she had gotten fond of - she was going to have a word with him, once she stopped being sort-of dead. Still, his arrogant blathering buys her enough time to heal and regain her strength, enough to pull herself up and kiss him - because skin contact was a requirement to unseal his memories, and it's not like she can't have fun while she does it anyway.

Their minds mingle, and through their bond she manages to break Charles' hold on him. When she pulls away and those purple orbs stare into her golden ones it is with recognition, and she knows - and he does too - that victory is in their hands. They stand and she steps aside to let him take centre stage, exercising his Geass in a manner identical to the day he first obtained it.

(The Black Knights have their Zero back, but Lelouch... Lelouch is hers again, and this time she swears to do everything in her power to keep him for as long as she can.)

-xXx-

Everything has led to this day, and she wonders to herself how it had all gone so horribly wrong.

"C.C.." At the sound of his voice, she turns to face him. Clad in his imperial garb, he looks like the most glamorous of sacrifices to be placed at the altar of the gods; after all, what grander price to pay for the world's peace than the life of its mortal owner? She feels like laughing, but there is no humour to be found in their situation so she settles for a bitter smile. Today he will be granted his wish, and she will be denied hers once more. The sting of betrayal lingers, a dull throb in her chest, and as she pushes it aside she refuses to think just which of his promises he is breaking that wounds her the most.

"You should depart soon," he tells her as she strides towards him. "I've asked Jeremiah to escort you to the underground path's entrance, and the driver has already been-" His words are cut off abruptly, obstructed in their passage by the pressing of her lips on his. She kisses him deeply but briefly, and pulls away before he can react. "C.C., I..." he begins but trails off as she holds up a finger to silence him. There is nothing he can say that will fix this, and she doesn't think she could bear to hear it anyway. His eyes glimmer with all that lies unspoken, however, causing her to wonder what he can read in hers, and in this shared solitude she can almost allow herself to forget everything that is to come.

"Do what you must, Lelouch," is all she says before she leaves and he does not follow and she wants to hate him just a little for it. But the die has been cast and the cards dealt, revealing that in the end none can trump the hand of Fate. She walks purposefully, Jeremiah both joining and departing from her side in silence as she carries herself out and far away from it all, and especially from him. She does not turn back even once.

(Her heart, however, is left behind - of that she is sure, because it is the heart he brought back to life and it is only fitting that it dies with him.)

-xXx-

This has to be a dream. It is either a dream or a hallucination, and as it stands she prefers that she has not already lost her mind.

"You could at least say something," he remarks wryly, his posture more relaxed than she ever remembers. That makes it more likely to be a dream, but only by a little. He frowns a little at her unresponsiveness and walks towards her, but she finds herself rooted to the spot. There is no sense in moving if it is a dream, less so if it is a hallucination, and so she continues to stand her ground even as he stops right in front of her. "C.C.," he intones calmly and patiently - again, how unlike him, "I'm not dead. And before you make any of your usual witty remarks, I am neither a zombie nor a vampire."

She finally rediscovers her voice, but even so all she manages is a whispered, "How...? Why?" A touch of darkness colours his features, and both the familiarity and difference in that sole reaction finally convinces her that all this is real. Wordlessly he pulls off the glove - had he been wearing any? she hadn't noticed - on his right hand to reveal to her eyes a symbol she knows all too well. Immediately she snaps her gaze back up to meet his, asking him the question she cannot put into words. "In the World of C," he starts wearily, "when... that man died, I think his Code passed to me. When I thought of it, I wasn't sure-" she can almost taste his frustration, having been unable to see all the pieces on the board, "-if it had happened at all, and the only way to find out was to die. That's why," and here he sighs, like a weight is being lifted from his shoulders, "I didn't tell you. I only left instructions with Jeremiah to check on me after everything was over and prepared a contingency if it did."

"And as for why..." he trails off, wearing that confident smirk she is all too acquainted with tempered by a warmth she barely knows, "I told you, didn't I? I would be your warlock. And that I would grant your true wish." She wants to retort that no, he won't, he can't, because now he's cursed like her too, except that she knows and he knows she knows just which wish he is talking about and in that aspect he is now entirely capable of it.

Lelouch leans forward and C.C. feels herself lean in to him in response, and just before his lips cover hers she feels rather than hears her name being formed on them.

(She thinks - freely, hazily, fleetingly - that maybe she can finally be happy.)

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><p>AUTHOR'S NOTES: Aaaaand it's done. Man, the longest thing I've written in ages. On a sidenote, a friend who read this commented humourously that it was "a little creepy" that C.C. knew Lelouch when he was a baby, which led to Tales of Genji references. But really, considering it's a romance between a girl who's really 700 years old or more and a guy who hasn't even reached 20, I'd say that's nothing much to fret about. XD<p> 


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